Horn cleats are a well known apparatus used for connecting two items using an elongated flexible members such as a lines formed of rope. Horn cleats have well known benefits including reliability, simplicity and ease of use to receive, by bending and hitching, the elongated flexible, tension members for purposes such as mooring a vessel, towing a vessel or securing control lines. Other uses can include securing jacklines of webbing or woven tubing, the jacklines providing an attachment for crew tethers permitting crew to move fore and aft while their tether remains attached, the attachment shackle or carabiner sliding on the jackline.
However, while robust and time-tested for securing lines such as described, the exposed horns have the undesirable property of fouling items whose contact with retention by the cleat is not wanted. Unwanted fouling of items can include several examples. Control lines such as spinnaker or other sail sheets that are desired to run free can foul inadvertently, disrupting sail setting and trimming. Toes of crew walking, or other body parts of crew sitting or moving using their hands, or clothing can get caught causing discomfort or even injury. Attachment shackles or carabiners slidably connected to jacklines can jam.